She’s chased rabbits in Alice in Wonderland, struggled through adversity in Jane Eyre and will soon be defying social conventions as Madame Bovary.

But Mia Wasikowska takes a break from acting in classic literary adaptations for a decidedly darker, more violent and more filmic role. She’s the title character of Stoker, the English-language directing debut of South Korea’s Park Chan-wook (The Vengeance Trilogy), which channels Hitchcock suspense with style. It opens Friday.

The 23-year-old Aussie spoke to the Star from New York about antiheroes, hidden symbolism and working with the Korean auteur.

Q:Stoker is hard to peg. It doesn’t seem right to simply call it an exercise in horror, because it’s far more nuanced than that.

A: It’s very unusual, and I’ve had the same problem trying to sum it up because it crosses a number of genres. It could be a psychosexual thriller or drama, but it’s hard to pinpoint as just one genre.

Q:Were you familiar with Park’s work, namely his Vengeance Trilogy?

A: Yes, I’ve watched most of his films now. I’m a huge fan of his work. He’s a really original kind of director. He’s created his own language.

Q:What excited you about Stoker?

A: It was different than anything I’d done. I hadn’t seen a character like this before, so I was excited to have the chance to play something else and be a part of a world that I hadn’t been a part of in cinema. That was exciting.

Q:How is India Stoker different from the characters you’ve played in previous films?

A: I guess I’ve played more classic heroes and India is a kind of antihero. That’s the most obvious difference. When I was reading the script for the first time, I was never quite sure which way India was going to go, which way she was going to kind of tip. She’s walking on such a fine line throughout the whole film.

Q:Is it likely people will find India more evil than antihero?

A: I don’t know. It’s such a subjective movie in that everybody comes out with a different opinion, which has been fun in regards to the press tour — people have seen her from such vastly different perspectives.

Q:What about you? Do you like India?

A: Yes I do, but I think director Park always talked about her to me in a really innocent way. He kept trying to emphasize she had the same desires — longing and infatuation and isolation that many other young people have. And he spoke about the story being a coming-of-age and a sexual awakening, but in a fairy tale way. I empathized with her, at least during the process of filming.

Q:There were a number of people attached to the film before you signed on. Carey Mulligan was to play lead, and there was also talk of Colin Firth and Jodie Foster joining. What scared people away?

A: I really don’t know. The script had been on the Black List and it had always been spoken about as a really great project. But I think people are more conditioned to accept a role like this or a character’s journey like this if it’s a male. There’s this resistance, especially with a female. But I definitely know that just initially, setting up the project, finding a director — it was a lengthy process in itself, let alone finding a cast and people to work on it.

Q:It doesn’t sound like you needed much persuasion.

A: It was the easiest career decision ever. I wish more things would come across like this.

Q:What was it like working with Park Chan-wook? He’s known for being very meticulous.

A: It was pretty amazing. There were so many things that he added to the story and all these visual metaphors and symbolisms that kind of strengthened the way we understood our characters and the story he was making. He really loved this metaphor of India being a little chicken that is pecking out of her shell. And because of that, if you look closely around the house, you can see a lot of the chairs are kind of egg-shaped. In her bedroom, her bed is this fluffy yellow.

Q:You were just in Korea to promote the film to Park Chan-wook’s original fan base. How was it received over there?

A: They really loved it. It was wonderful. I was curious how it would be received in the different cultures, but I think they were so impressed by it and there was a really positive reaction. Director Park was really happy.

Q:Did you notice any difference from the Sundance reaction in January?

A: I think it’s the sort of film that people feel passionately about, whichever way they feel about it. That’s sort of the main thing I’ve come to expect from people’s reactions, which is good.

Q:The buzz is that you’re set to play soon play Emma Bovary, another classic literary figure. Is that film still in motion?

A: It is, the financing is not 100 percent locked off at the moment, but hopefully it will come together. But I would love to play that character. I mean, that’s an offer again that is a really easy decision because she’s such a brilliant character.

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